Two novel ID-based water-soluble conjugated polymers (+)-PIDPV and (-)-PIDPV were synthesized by Heck coupling reaction. These two polyelectrolytes are both consisted of isoindigo units and phenylenevinylene units. In the UV-vis absorption spectra, both (+)-PIDPV and (-)-PIDPV exhibit broad absorption bands that almost cover the whole visible region. Photophysical investigations reveal that the fluorescence of water-soluble PPV can be efficiently quenched by oppositely charged PIDPV at a very low concentration. Cationic PPV shows an efficient quenching effect with K-SV = 1.01 x 10(6) M-1 in the presence of (-)-PIDPV while the anionic PPV gives a lager quenching constant with K-SV = 1.71 X 10(6) M-1 in the presence of (+)-PIDPV. Furthermore, the blend films of water-soluble PPVs and oppositely charged PIDPV also exhibit excellent quenching effect. These properties suggest that (+)-PIDPV and (-)-PIDPV are promising materials in the application of ionic photoactive layer in the organic solar cells. (C) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.